Dozens of Gazan detainees released by Israel show 'signs of torture'

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Middle East Monitor (@middleeastmonitor)

Israel released dozens of Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip yesterday, according to a local source, with many showing signs of torture and abuse.

“Around 50 detainees from Gaza City and northern Gaza were freed,” a Palestinian source told Anadolu.

The source said some 33 freed Gazans were taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza for medical attention “due to difficult health conditions.”

“Some of the detainees had signs of torture on their bodies,” he added.

There are no available estimates about the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in Gaza, but human rights groups estimate that thousands have been arrested.

In videos circulating on social media, released detainees are seen to be visibly weak, explaining that they were not allowed to sleep and were not provided food or clean water.

“No food, no water and no toilet. I swear we pooped on ourselves and they’d make us drink sewage water,” one of the men tells gathered reporters as he is reunited with his daughter. He had been held by occupation forces for eight months, reporters said.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since October.

Nearly 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Those who survive the bombing are struggling as a result of a “man-made famine” which Israel is imposing by blocking the entry of humanitarian aid.

READ: Hamas: Israel attempting to evade proposed Gaza ceasefire deal